Monday, August 2, 2010

Say (O Muslims), "We believe in Allah and that which has been sent down to us and that which has been sent down to Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael), Ishaque (Isaac), Yaqoob (Jacob), and to Al-Asbat (the twelve sons of Yaqoob (Jacob)), and that which has been given to Moosa (Moses) and Iesa (Jesus), and that which has been given to the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have submitted (in Islam)." (Al-Baqara 136)

Commentary:

The earlier verses have defined the religion (Millat) of Sayyidnā Ibrāhīm علیہ اسلام and established that its present form is Islam. Now, the Jews and the Christians, in spite of their pretension to be his followers, did not in actual fact follow his religion. Each of these two groups, instead of accepting Islam, used to ask the Muslims to accept its own religion in order to find true guidance. No doubt, each of these two religions was, in its own time and for its own time, a genuine religion, but in its present form each had become distorted, and had also been abrogated by Allah. So, in answer to them, Allah asks the Holy Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم to declare on his own behalf and on that of his followers that they are and shall remain steadfast in the religion of Sayyidnā Ibrāhīm علیہ اسلام who shunned all kinds of association (Shirk), who adored nothing but the One God and obeyed no one but Him, and whose religion, therefore, did not have even a trace of distortion. Then, in the second of these verses Allah asks the Muslims to declare the basic tenets of this religion too, which are as follows:- (1) Muslims believe in Allah and in the guidance which He has sent them through the Holy Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم. (2) They also believe in all the prophets Allah has sent from time to time - some of whom have been mentioned in this verse. (3) Some of the prophets may in some ways be superior to others, but it is essential for a Muslim to believe in all the prophets without making any distinction. (4) Muslims believe that the Sharī'ahs of all the prophets mentioned here were instituted by Allah Himself, but they have now been abrogated. So, Muslims follow the Sharī'ah of the Holy Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم, for this alone is now valid. (5) Muslims ultimately obey Allah alone, and submit themselves totally to Him.
In the second of these verses the progeny of Sayyidnā Ya'qūb (Jacob علیہ اسلام) has been described as 'Asbāt or "tribes." The reason is that he had twelve sons, and the offspring of each son came to form a tribe. Allah so blessed his seed that in Egypt, Sayyidnā Yūsuf (Joseph علیہ السلام ) and his brothers made up a group of twelve men, but their lineage flourished, and when the Israelites left Egypt along with Sayyidnā Mūsā (Moses), their number ran into thousands. Another form of this blessing was that the progeny of Sayyidnā Ya'qūb علیہ السلام included a large number of prophets. (Maarif ul Quran by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RA)

Friday, July 30, 2010

The Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ) believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. They say, "We make no distinction between one another of His Messengers" - and they say, "We hear, and we obey. (We seek) Your Forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return (of all)." (Al-Baqara 285)

Commentary:
The first seven words of this verse admire the Holy Prophet SAW . It may by noted that the verse does not address him by his name, but, by calling him ‘Rasul’, his honour and dignity have been made clear. The word, ‘the believers’ follows immediately after that. It means that just as the Holy Prophet SAW firmly believes in the revelation (Wahy) from Allah, so do the true Muslims in general. The style chosen for this sentence is also word consideration. The major part has been used to describe the state of th e’iman’ (belief) of the Holy Prophet SAW, then, the ‘iman’ (belief) of the general Muslims has been described separately. This indicates that, although the Holy Prophet SAW and all Muslims share in the wealth of ‘iman’ as such, still there is a great difference between the two in terms of the relative degrees of ‘iman’. The knowledge of the Holy Prophet SAW is based on seeing and hearing while the knowledge of other Muslims takes the form of ‘iman’ bi l’ghayb or ‘believing without seeing’ as based on the ‘ru’yat’ or ‘seeing’ of the Holy Prophet SAW.

After that some details of the ‘iman’ (belief) which was common between the Holy Prophet SAW and the Muslims in general. This ‘iman’ consisted of the belief that Allah Almighty does exist and that He is One and that He is endued with all the perfect attributes, and that there are angels, and that all Scriptures and all Messengers send by Allah are true.

After that it was clearly stressed that the ‘believers’ of this ummah (Muslim community) will do nothing was done by past communities accepting some as prophets and by denying that status to others.

Praised here is the distinction of this ummah which is made of people who do not reject any prophet. This is followed by word of admiration for what the noble companions had sad when so directed by the Holy Prophet.

“We have listened, and obeyed. Our Lord, Your pardon! And to You is the return.” (Maarif ul Quran by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RA)

Allah does not forbid you be deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion and did not drive you out of your homes. Verily, Allah loves those who deal with equity (Al-Mimtahina 9)

It is recorded in Sahih of Bukhari, on the authority of Sayyidah Asma bint Abu Bakr, that her mother arrived in Madinah from Makkah in the state of disbelief. According to a narration in Musand of Ahmad, this incident occurred when peace treaty of Hudaibiyah with the Makkan Quraish had been concluded and was in force. Her Mother’s name was Qutailah. She brought gifts for her daughter Sayyidah Asma, but she refused to accept them. She did not even allow her to enter her house unless she sought the permission of the Holy Prophet SAW. Sayyidah Asma asked the Holy Prophet SAW how to treat her mother who came her while still disbeliever. The Holy Prophet SAW advised her to treat her kindly, politely and courteously. On that occasion, the following verse was revealed (Allah does not forbid you from doing good and justice to those who did not fight you because of faith….)

Some reports indicate that Sayyidah Asma’s mother Qutailah was divorced by Sayyidna Abu Bakr in the Days of Ignorance. Sayyidah Asma’s sister, Sayyidah Aishah was born of the second wife of Abu Bakr, namely Umm Ruman, who had embraced Islam.

The verse directs that justice and good behavior should be maintained with those unbelievers who did not fight the Muslims. As for justice, it is obligatory to maintain with every non-Muslim, whether he is a citizen of an Islamic State, or the Muslims have peace agreement with him, or a citizen of an un-Islamic State, even though he is at war with Muslims. Rather, Islam enjoins upon Muslims to do justice even to animals. We are not allowed to lay a burden on them more than they can bear. We need to take care of their fodder and comfort. The focus of the verse, therefore, is upon the direction that they should by treated, not only with justice, but also in good and courteous manner.
Maarif ul Quran by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RA)